Tuesday, 31 December 2013

"The subtle depths of the sky at night, touching our own infinities. The elusive weaving of shades: ever-constant, ever-changing, drawing our senses to pause to enter. May 'The Road That Takes Us Home' lead the listener through the subtle depths of our Night Sky. May we meet in the spririt of song."
(notes from the vinyl LP back cover)

Incredibly rare French Folk LP released on the 'New Blood' German label (same label than Dorian or Rockport).
Exclusive opportunity to buy this record (never seen before except this copy - not any info on the net).

Wednesday, 25 December 2013

The Young Rationals were Massachusetts' answer to Donnie Iris and the Cruisers.
Nebbishy Steve Stone, who had the Buddy Holly look down pat, was a more charismatic frontman than most and a better songwriter than just about anyone else on the MA club scene, but thanks to Boston's fascination with terrible bands with zero songwriting talent, The Rationals didn't put the town under a wonderful hold.
Their songs had too much melody apparently.
Young Rationals debuted somewhere around 1983 with a delightfully goofy music video, "World's Collide" (sic), and followed it with an EP, "Under Control" (Recon, 1984), on what I think was drummer Tim Jackson's label.
(Jackson was also Robin Lane and the Chartbusters' drummer, and Robin's 1984 EP, "Heart Connection," is the only other record I have on the Recon label.)
A second promotional video was produced, for the EP track, "Evidence."
With the title track, Stone penned what those shitty Boston "legends" could only dream of writing -- the perfect 3 minute pop song.
The band split up shortly after the EP came out, leaving "World's Collide" unreleased for whatever reason.

Located in Epsom, Surrey, Ewell Castle School is a school for boys ages 3-18 and girls ages 3-11.
Founded in 1926, it continues operation today.
In the 1970s, LPs were made of 2 different musical/theatrical presentations, one in 1974 and one in 1979.
These are what are commonly known as School Project LPs.
The first LP Pilgrim was based on John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
The 2nd LP, called Omnibus, consisted of parts of 3 different presentations: "Gawain and the Green Knight", "Celestial Omnibus", and "The Gold Road".
These performances featured student actors with musical accompaniment.
The first album was recorded at R.G. Jones Studios in Wimbledon and Omnibus was recorded at Pye Recording Studios, London.
On both LPs, the music was written by Peter Back and the lyrics by John Andrews.